Hard-Cooked Egg

~see Cooking Equipment, cooker, piercer, slicer, wedger, Cooking Methods, hard-cooked, Decorated Eggs, Peeling, Storing

Haugh Unit

A measurement used in determining albumen quality by the breakout method. The test is named for Raymond Haugh who suggested it in 1937.

~see Breakout

History

Because birds preceded man in the evolutionary chain, both eggs and birds have been around longer than historians. Nobody really knows when the first fowl was domesticated, although Indian history places the date as early as 3200 B.C.  Egyptian and Chinese records show that fowl were laying eggs for man in 1400 B.C.  The dependability of the rooster's early morning call and the regularity with which newly laid eggs appeared probably inspired the Chinese to describe fowl as "the domestic animal who knows time."

It is believed that Columbus' ships carried the first of the chickens related to those now in egg production to this country. These strains originated in Asia.

Hollandaise Sauce

A rich, lemon-flavored butter sauce thickened with egg yolks. The French chef who created this sauce named it for Holland probably because Holland was famous for it butter, a main ingredient in the sauce. Hollandaise sauce is often served over asparagus or poached salmon. Many sauces are based on Hollandaise such as Bearnaise and Mousseline.

Because Hollandaise can curdle if even slightly overcooked, it needs close attention, low heat and constant stirring.